Crop Circles in NC > Oracle 20/20 Magazine

Unto These Hills: Crop Circles Come to Western North Carolina by Alan Muskat
For the past twenty-five years, the crop circles– designs found mostly in fields of grain in southern England – have been steadily getting larger, more complex, more frequent, and more widespread. On June 12th, the first crop formation of the year in the U.S. was found in Western North Carolina near Burnsville, less than an hour from my Asheville home. This 176-foot circle is possibly the first crop formation ever to be found in the U.S. above 2000 feet and is one of the first crop circles ever in higher elevations in the world. Within a month, six more formations were reported nearby. According Nancy Talbott, President of BLT Research, the world’s leading scientific crop circle research organization, it is unusual to have so many crop circles appear in one small area of the U.S., much less a mountainous one. Despite local news reports and the opinion of local “experts,” several of the formations show signs of authenticity; that is, of not having been made by any known methods. Unfortunately, the majority have since been mowed over. Is this the start of a trend? Is it all a hoax? If like most people, you’ve heard that crop circles are all just pranks done with planks, here’s a chance to decide for yourself. Continue reading ->	If you’re excited about finding crop circles in your area, spread the word. Many circles go unreported or are mowed over simply because people don’t recognize what they’re seeing, or would rather not be bothered with visitors. Remember that farmers depend on crops for their livelihood, and having dozens or hundreds of people trampling through a field can cause a lot of damage. On the other hand, experience has shown that if a parking area is designated, the shortest path to the circles is mowed and clearly marked, and a $1 or $2 donation per person is collected (simply by putting out a donation box), fields suffer little damage and farmers are more than compensated within a couple weeks. If you discover or hear about a crop circle in your area, don’t trespass; make sure you have the property owner’s permission. If the land is uncultivated, finding the owner can be difficult; if it’s in Western North Carolina, I’m happy to help. To report a crop circle, call the BLT hotline at 617-492-0415 or go to http://www.bltresearch.com/contact.html. To join an e-mail list for crop circle news in WNC, send a message to WNCcropcircles-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (it can be totally blank). For more information on crop circles, see the FAQs at http://www.circularsite.com/feiten-eng.htm. For a brief summary of the facts, see the e-booklet at http://theconversation.org/booklet2.html. Links to other crop circle websites can be found at http://www.cropcircleresearch.com/links/index.html. I recommend the documentary Star Dreams (stardreams-cropcircles.com). Although it is highly speculative, the crop circle footage is gorgeous and, unlike nearly every other crop circle video I’ve seen, it isn’t stuck on the question of authenticity.
Weaverville, NC. This crop circle is a simple circle, approx. 53 ft. in diameter. Courtesy of www.rense.com/general66/